Meet Larkin
Supporting students and parents in their life and learning journeys as an expert educator, and coach.
Hello!
I became a teacher because I believe everyone deserves a chance. Life and learning are not one-size-fits-all, but that’s the way our systems have been built. Students learn in richly diverse ways. My work exists to find ways around the one-size-fits-all approach to life.
I help students and parents navigate ways of living and learning in a way that works, and makes sense for them. The more we can learn how to navigate the systems that exist, the more opportunities we have. For over 25 years, I've been tutoring, teaching and coaching neurodiverse students and parents.
Together, we contribute to a world that welcomes and accommodates different ways of thinking, learning and working.
Long after I began teaching kiddos with special needs, I gave birth to two of my own. Both of my boys have been exceptionally challenged by traditional schooling and have IEPs (individualized education programs) of their own. I approach my position as an Educational Specialist with experience on both sides of the table and bring compassion and personal experience to every family I work with.
I’m especially committed to remote learning and have spent almost a decade educating (and being educated!) online and by phone through various platforms. Students of mine have built websites, started small companies and non-profits, blogged, and communicated with other youth around the world as part of their curricula.
I believe that we as parents can move from overwhelm to grace and creativity. Students can shift from feeling misunderstood to being welcomed in their differences—welcomed by their parents, friends, teachers. ‘How does my brain work? How do I move through the world? What works, doesn’t work? What comes easily to me, and what doesn't?’ That's all in my wheelhouse: teaching metacognition and helping them understand themselves. That’s what I provide. Translating the world for different kinds of brains.
Specializations
ADHD Dyslexia Learning differences Clinical anxiety and depression Sensory processing disorder Curriculum design and development
Reading and writing remediation Individualized instruction
Project-based, student-driven learning Executive function
Homework completion and test preparation Self-advocacy and life skills
Social and emotional learning College and career readiness
Online learning and adaptive technology
Education
Certified ADHD Parent Coach
PTS Coaching, ADHD Parent Coach Academy
Certified Professional Coach
Center for Coaching Certification
Dyslexia Intervention Specialization
May Center for Learning, Sequential English Education (SEE) - an Orton-Gillingham-based Program
Teaching Credential (K-12): Special Education
Santa Fe Community College Teacher Academy
Masters in Psychology
Sonoma State University
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies
Naropa University
Experience Highlights
Credentialed Education Specialist and Executive Function Coach. Over 25 years experience teaching students with learning differences, anxiety disorders, autism, giftedness, ADHD and dyslexia.
May Center for Learning
Instructor, LEAP Skills Specialist, Executive Function Coach
Supporting students with ADHD and language-based learning disabilities ~ (LEAP is an acronym for Literacy, Empowerment, Advocacy, and Principles)
Contract
Educator, ADHD and Dyslexia Coach
Private tutoring and coaching students from Kindergarten up to to college-ages with a focus on reading, writing, emotional literacy, self-advocacy, mindfulness, study skills, confidence building, and executive function
Heartwood Charter School (Virtual Homeschool) | Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District
Education Specialist
Special education teacher and case manager for PreK-12th grade students with special needs. Specialized instruction in reading and writing, consultation with general education teachers and parents, data collection, assessments, writing and facilitating Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)
Tamalpais Union High School District
Home Hospital Teacher
In-home educator for high school students on medical Home Hospital leave. Curriculum modification, grading and proctoring exams, guiding students in organization, completion of assignments, and test preparation
Contract
Social-Emotional Life Learning Coach
Facilitating social/emotional life learning groups for middle school girls
Interests
When Larkin isn't teaching or sitting at a computer, she's making something lovely, singing, or outside adventuring with her husband and two teenage sons. She loves to make just about anything—from growing, foraging, and producing herbal medicine to refinishing her kitchen by hand. If she's not working, she's making. Other than that, Larkin can be found at her boys' baseball games or hiding from her family in her airstream, plucking away at her ukulele, seeing what musical inspiration comes to her in a (rare) moment of solitude. Larkin has been a professional singer/songwriter, and a wilderness rites of passage guide.
